


Enter One

by himigwitch



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:47:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29805210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himigwitch/pseuds/himigwitch
Summary: After Arthur's death, Merlin coped by going to the lake every day to wait for his return. One day, he was confused when he found himself mourning the death of Morgana. He finds a strange cave that transports him to a strange world but eerily similar to his origin world where he finds Morgana, alive.My first Merlin fanfic! Also my first fanfic on this site. I'm not English. Apologies for my limited knowledge of British culture.
Relationships: Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Morgana (Merlin)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Enter One

**Author's Note:**

> Title used to be "Strange New World" but I really intended it to be "Enter One" and the former title was intended to be the title of the first chapter so i fixed it. This site is damn tricky.

**Chapter 1: Strange New World**

It’s been weeks since Merlin buried Arthur in the lake of Avalon. To him it feels like yesterday. It was all too vivid. Arthur dying in his arms. Him screaming in despair. And him weeping when he sent the boat away which carried Arthur’s body. 

_No man is worth your tears._

When Arthur died, it was like the world stopped moving. When Gwen received the news, she was paralyzed. In the daytime she appeared strong and put together. She had to be, to serve her people. At night, her cries and wails could be heard from hers and Arthur’s chambers--well hers only now. 

But among everyone, Merlin has been the worst at coping. Every day was the same. He would clean Arthur’s chambers. Do errands for Gaius. He would do what he needed to do every day as fast as he could. He had to make time. After that, he would go to the lake, and wait for Arthur. He would wait for hours, staring at the shimmering waves. Every. Day. Until the darkness consumed the lake and he would scream furiously into the still and peaceful lake. 

“ _Arthur! Come back! Please. . . We need you.“ he sobs, “ Or do you think you’re too good for this world._ ”

He would scream until he was tired of screaming and had to sleep. Every day.

He would wake. He would clean Arthur’s chambers. He would do errands for Gaius. He would wait for Arthur. He would scream. He would sleep.

He would sleep. He would wake. He would wait. He would scream. 

Sleep. Wake. Wait. Scream. 

Sleep. Wake. Wait. Scream. 

But as the weeks turned to months, a new kind of sadness would take over him. Mourning? Guilt? He did not know. He could not understand why he felt this way. But he found himself mourning for Morgana.

 _Why her? She has been the cause of all our suffering. The catalyst. Why would I feel anything at all for the death of a murderous witch?_

One day he asked Gwen if she mourns for her as well. 

“Of course I do,” Gwen answered.

Merlin was surprised. Gwen might have been the one who suffered the most at the hands of Morgana. She killed her brother, made her feel alone and scared to death until she was brainwashed into plotting to kill her own husband, and even tried to kill her a few times.

“Morgana was my friend. I know, it's absurd. But it felt as though she were two different persons. I mourn for the woman that I used to serve. The girl that I comforted when she awoke from her nightmares. The girl I gave flowers to. The woman who risked her life to save a little boy. I want to remember her that way and that way only but I can’t. She would always be the one who plotted to kill Arthur and caused Elyan’s death and hundreds more. But I still mourn. It was as if she died twice,” Gwen says, pensive and sorrowful. “What about you? Do you mourn for her?”

Merlin pauses.

“I don’t know why. We never had that much of a friendship before she--uh. . .,” he stammered, “I know she hated me and thought I was a nobody. And the things she did. She was so bitter and ruthless. But I don’t understand. Why do I feel this way?”

_I blame myself for what you’ve become, but this ends now!_

Gwen puts a hand on Merlin’s shoulder. 

“Oh Merlin, perhaps you mourn what could have been. Maybe you mourn the friendship you and Morgana could have had,” Gwen tries to comfort him.

It was inconceivable. A friendship with Morgana? And then he remembered how she was before everything went wrong with her. Brave and headstrong. Caring and with a good heart. She really did die twice. Maybe if they were friends, things would have been different.

And then Merlin felt a stabbing pain in his gut. He couldn’t tell if it was because of the pain of not eating enough since Arthur’s death, or if it was the guilt consuming him. The guilt he felt for Morgana.

“I just… I just feel like I could have saved her. I could have said something at least.”

“What would you have said to her?” Gwen asks, figuring if he let it out, he would find peace.

Merlin looks at her, tears welling up in his eyes. “I would tell her that… I’m sorry. I’m sorry it had to be this way,” Merlin finally lets a tear fall, “And that she wasn’t alone.”

* * *

One day, onto his daily routine Merlin was on his way to the lake as he always had. However, he felt the wind blow in another direction. His magic senses a presence, and he looks in the direction of the lake but turns away, deciding to follow in the direction of the wind. He was hearing hissing and whispering. If he was walking into trouble, he knew he could handle himself. He followed the sound, deeper into the woods he went until he found himself in front of a cave. The hissing and whispering disappeared into the dark gaping mouth of the cave. It’s opening looked too symmetrical, unnatural. He did not know why he had never seen it before. 

He hesitated before entering the cave. He ran his hands against the rough cave walls. He could feel that whatever it is about this cave, it was potent. He just did not know what it was. He used a spell to illuminate the caves. He looked deeper into the tunnel but he could not see the end of it.

It was quiet now. No more whispers. He figured someone might be trapped inside. He called out, “Hello! Is anyone there?!” It echoes. He walked deeper into the caves.

He thought he heard something over the echoes. A scream? Why was he led here by the noises? Because of Arthur’s recent death, he grew superstitious. What if this is where he finds Arthur? What if the sounds and the winds led him to it? 

A strong emotion overcame him. He was desperate. He had to see him again. He had to take him back. He screamed, just as he screamed at the lake. 

“Arthur!” 

He concentrated and closed his eyes. Whether he intended to or not, his potent magic was released into the caves and he could feel the vibrations of the cave walls on his hands and under his feet. He kept his eyes shut. He realizes that the sounds over the echoes he had heard were the vibrations, and they were getting stronger. He felt his body vibrate with the cave and the waves of sound took over his body. He felt like he was floating, and that the particles in his body were separating somehow. And then a bright light filled the dark cave, waves of light shot out from its opening.

He felt his body collapse into the cave floors. He was panting. The magic he released exhausted him. He got up but not without his long legs wobbling around. He looked around. Empty. No Arthur. No sounds. No one. 

“Arthur! Come back!!!”

Nothing. It’s futile.

He went back to the cave’s entrance, struggling to walk, his palm on the walls for support. When he walked out of the cave, he saw that the trees and foliage were different somehow, like it was suddenly a different time of the year. He looked up and there were wires attached to poles, but he was too exhausted and dazed to comprehend any of it. So he kept walking in the direction of the lake, when he heard a peculiar sound, like a loud gust of wind. Then he heard loud horns from the very same direction.

_What is with the noises today? Is the world ending?_

He followed the noises, curious, scared. 

_If the world is ending then maybe you can come back now Arthur_ he thought, chuckling. Even now in mourning, he was still cracking jokes. Well, at himself. Arthur wasn’t there to roll his eyes at him.

After following the sounds, he found a dark colored road with white stripes along the middle. 

_That wasn’t there before._

He walked sluggishly into the middle of it, puzzled. Then suddenly behind him, he heard the horns. 

_The heavens are taking me aren’t they?_

He didn’t have much time to react, but when he turned around a large machine was running towards him at enormous speed and instinctively, he used his magic to stop it somehow. He raised his shaky hands and cast a spell to slow it down but he once again collapsed. The vehicle stopped inches away from him, just in time. 

“Oh my god!” a woman screamed. She got out of the vehicle and went straight to Merlin.

“Are you alright, sir?” 

Merlin’s head was spinning.

_Sir? I’m just a servant._

He opened his eyes and looked up, vision blurry. He blinks a few times to adjust until he could see the face of the person that almost killed him.

_No._

The woman grabbed his arm. The dark hair, the piercing eyes.

_Morgana._

“Here, let me help you up,” she pulls him up.

He wanted to yank her hand away from him. But he was too weak from exhaustion to resist.

The woman noticed the wide-eyed look he gave her. She figured he was just shell-shocked, seeing as how she almost ran him over. She had to help him, she thought. She helped him walk to her car and had him seated in the back seat.

Merlin looks around the interiors of the huge machine, confused.

“What is this?” He speaks finally, “Where am I? What are you… ” he did not even know what to say. His eyes drifted shut.

* * *

When he awoke, he was in a strange room in a white bed with white walls, white curtains and a bright white light in the ceiling. 

_I am dead, aren’t I? Morgana killed me._

Speaking of the witch, the woman in the strange machine walked into the room. Merlin flinched, wanting to flee.

“Oh, you’re awake. Again, I am so sorry. Strangely enough, there’s not a scratch on you. I guess you just fainted.”

Merlin huffs as he remembers all that Morgana did 

“Are you okay?”

_Okay? What does that mean?_

“Are you alright?”

_Oh_

“Why are you doing this?” Merlin says, frustrated. 

_What game is she playing now? A trick of the eye? Is she making me go insane?_

The woman looked at him, looking concerned. “I just took you here to the hospital. Please it’s the least I could do.”

Merlin did not understand what she was saying. “I don’t want your help. I don’t want anything from you.” He hisses.

The woman looked annoyed. She was shocked. “What the hell were you doing standing in the middle of the highway anyway? Have you never crossed a road before?” she snapped.

Merlin looked at her, still angry, but visibly confused.

She sighs. “I’m sorry. I… uh, should go now. Rest well. You look like you’re dying even though you barely have a bruise on you.” 

She leaves and Merlin looks at her as she walks through the door. 

Again, he felt a stabbing pain in his gut. Why? He had no injuries. 

_I’m sorry_.

Soon enough after a few hours, Merlin was discharged from the hospital. There wasn’t really anything wrong with him. He was just nursed back enough to reinvigorate him to start walking normally again. He had tried to resist the people in white clothing from inspecting but figured they meant no harm and let them.

He walked out of the hospital building, lost and confused. 

_What in the world is this place?_

He looked around at the modern scenery. The cars honking, people in strange clothing, the boxy looking buildings. 

_What happened in that cave?_

In front of him was a road filled with large machines with wheels just like the one that almost hit him. 

He panicked. He had to find that cave somehow. He looked at the cars darting across in front of him, figuring out how he could cross the street. And suddenly they all stopped at the same time.

_Strange. I haven’t used my magic yet._

He took the chance and ran as fast as he could across the street. The people looked at him like he was a madman. Here is a boy in medieval clothing running around outside the streets like he’s never been here before.

He ran and ran, trying to listen to whispers, hissing, wind, anything.

_I have to go back. I can’t be here. Not while Morgana is here._

Whatever this was, he would not let it win. 

He found the cave finally, with his magic vision, he found the trail. There it is, dark and imposing. He went in, as he did earlier, deep in the cave. Once again he closed his eyes shut and tried to concentrate.

_I’ll be back home. Or I’ll wake up from this strange nightmare._


End file.
